


no time for crying now, i've started this storm, gotta stop it somehow

by tommyshepherdd (atimeforflores)



Category: New Mutants, New X-Men: Academy X, X-Men - All Media Types, Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-18
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-11-23 16:52:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18154508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atimeforflores/pseuds/tommyshepherdd
Summary: David's eyes trailed to the spot Tommy had become so fixated on before he fell. The name was a familiar one, one that he had been in same year as. He wasn't especially close to the other teen, as they had been on different teams. If anything, they had circled each other but never really interacted. All he knew was that the other teen had died during the M-Day attack after he had been depowered.“Who was Mark Sheppard?” David finally gathered the courage to ask.Tommy drew a shuddering breath before speaking, “He was my brother.”





	no time for crying now, i've started this storm, gotta stop it somehow

David could tell that Tommy had something to ask him. The younger male kept twisting in his seat to look around. After a few more shuffles, David put his hand on Tommy's knee to calm him, softly rubbing his thumb over the thin fabric of Tommy's jeans.

Almost immediately Tommy calmed, sinking back into the passenger's seat and he let out a deep sigh.

“You that excited to meet Cyclops again, babe?” David joked, continuing the calming pace on his boyfriend's knee.

“Something like that.” Tommy breathed, grasping David’s hand in between his own, intertwining their fingers and lifting the back of David's hand to his lips.

“Or is it Professor X? I'll shave my head if you really think bald heads are that sexy.” David teased. “

Oh my god,” Tommy groaned, trying to shake off David's grip as the older boy tightened it, “I called you Eli one time when sleep deprived. Let it go.”

“Never.” David answered, laughing as he pulled Tommy's hand to his mouth to return a kiss to the back of it.

…

By the time they were pulling up the recently renovated X-Mansion Tommy was once again jittery and hardly waited for David to park the car before getting out.

“If you’re worried Magneto is going to be here, you shouldn't it be. He doesn't come around much when anyone other than Professor X is in charge.” David muttered into the shorter teen's ear, wrapping an arm around Tommy's waist.

“It's not that.” Tommy answered distractedly, eyes darting around the grounds. The only time David truly missed his powers was when Tommy got shut up inside his own head, unwilling to let anyone else help. Something changed with Tommy when he was trapped by the Patrinot. He refused to talk about what happened within his own prison, but the nightmares and late night talks Tommy called him for revealed their own story.

Tommy anxiously swayed from foot to foot, eyes still scanning the faces of students passing them. Whatever he was looking for, he wasn’t able to find them.

“Come on,” David finally said as he saw Tommy's face begin to fall, “I’ll show you around.”

For the most part, the afternoon passed peacefully. David couldn't help but notice that Tommy was withdrawn, eyes continuously scanning the grounds. Each time, however, it seemed he turned up empty and became more and more distant.

As they approached the part of the grounds that marked the In Memoriam wall, David could feel Tommy’s grip once again tighten. There were multiple lines of names. Years and years of losses. Mutants lost in battle, mutants lost in hate attacks, countless lives ended too soon.

“Where's your class?” Tommy abruptly asked, fingers skimming over the engraved names of long dead students.

“Down here,” David said softly, rugging Tommy by his free hand down to the end of the wall. It seemed like their deaths were lifetimes away while also being open wounds.

M-Day had the largest section by far, names after names engraved into the marble of the wall.

Whatever Tommy had been looking for, he had finally found.

Finally, after hours of tension and distraction, Tommy deflated all at once. David was caught off guard, hurriedly linking his own arms under his boyfriend's and gentled the descent. Together they sank to the ground, as Tommy began to shiver, turning to bury his face into David's chest.

David's eyes trailed to the spot Tommy had become so fixated on before he fell. The name was a familiar one, one that he had been in same year as. He wasn't especially close to the other teen, as they had been on different teams. If anything, they had circled each other but never really interacted. All he knew was that the other teen had died during the M-Day attack after he had been depowered.

“Who was Mark Sheppard?” David finally gathered the courage to ask.

Tommy drew a shuddering breath before speaking, “He was my brother.”

…

Tommy had been begging DJ for months to help him train for cross country. After what seemed like forever, DJ finally agreed to get up an hour early to jog with Tommy through the cross country trail surrounding their high school.

DJ had made Tommy promise to stay quiet and let his run to his playlist, along with not bothering him too much. DJ has three years on him, and two years of cross country over him. DJ also had much more muscle mass and stamina than his younger brother.

For two boys adopted from different states and different orphanages, Tommy and DJ sure did look alike. They had hardly been going for half an hour when suddenly DJ threw himself to the ground, ripping his headphones out and throwing his iPod away from himself. He was clutching his head, curling in on himself.

“DJ?” Tommy asked, catching up to his older brother and reaching for him. He remembered the hushed conversations he wasn't supposed to hear between his mother, father, and brother. The migraines his brother had been suffering from, the ways he felt that his head was going to explode.

“Shut up!” DJ yelled, “Just shut up and give me a moment!”

Even as his brother tried to struggle away from him, Tommy hoisted him up and dragged him back the rest of the way to the school. They stumbled through the now unlocked doors, tripping over to each other to the nurse’s office.

The older woman looked startled to see them fall through the threshold of her office, covered in leaves and mud, the much smaller Tommy holding his brother up.

“Oh dear,” Tommy vividly recalled her saying as she helped him drag DJ to the bed she had behind a curtain.

The next few moments were a blur as Tommy’s phone began to ring. He had forgotten to silence it after his alarm that morning.

DJ screamed, his body shaking violently. Arcs of light shot from his body, gaining strength and form as the song continued to play. Tommy reached for his phone, but found that it slid right through his hand and to the ground. The ceiling began to collapse around the brothers, the prone form of the nurse pinned to the ground by concrete.

“DJ!” Tommy shouted, trying to pull his brother out from whatever spell he has been pulled into. With every step, however, more crumpled around him.

“DJ!” Tommy yelled again, stomping on his cellphone and watching it explode under his vibrating foot. “Run!”

And DJ did, and he didn't look back.

DJ Shepherd was marked as one of the many casualties of Tommy's powers manifesting. Tommy never let anyone think differently.

…

David bundled Tommy up in his jacket, half carrying the younger male inside of the X-Mansion. It was quite different than the stuffy mansion David remembered from his school days, and instead was clashing with the many different personalities that had taught the school in David’s absence.

“Was anyone with him? When he died?” Tommy finally whispered, turning red rimmed eyes up at David.

“Yeah.” David answered, “He wasn't alone.”

As Tommy snoozed on his shoulder, both emotionally and physically exhausted, David dug out his phone and dialed the one number he swore he’d never contact again.

“Josh?” he whispered as the other man groggily picked up, “I need a favor."

…

Tommy got the first message shortly after he joined the Young Avengers as Speed. It had appeared on his cell phone one morning, yet somehow didn't leave a return number. It was simple, but telling.

_Looks like you didn't need my help with track. - MS_

Tommy puzzled over it for weeks. Weeks that was, until he caught the glimpse of a familiar face on the news. A new X-Men team, and a young mutant going by DJ.

His brother was alive, and that's all that mattered.

Maybe that was the reason that Tommy fought so hard against being Billy's twin even as it stared him in the face. He fought it because he already had a brother, one he planned on finding.

He tried to keep his mind shielded when they fought Emma Frost, but if the older woman’s saccharine smile was anything to go by, he failed. Even after he was out from under her control, the whispered temptations of seeing DJ again taunted him.

He had a new brother though, one that wanted him around and sought him out.

…

“He didn't suffer.” Josh told Tommy, watching the younger man buckle under the weight of the confession. “At the point of stress his body was under, I don’t think he could feel much of anything.”

Laura stood off to the side, Gabby leaning into her side as a silent form of support. For anyone who didn't know her she would seem closed off, but anyone who did would be able to tell she was hardly holding it together.

“I’m sorry I didn't get there fast enough.” Josh said, ducking his head.

“It's not your fault.” Tommy finally spoke through clenched teeth, “We’re all just kids that got saddled with this bullshit.”

“He was a brave young man.” Laura spoke, a trail running down her cheek. “Held onto his humor until the end.”

“Yeah,” Tommy replied softly, “That sounds like him.”

…

Tommy had extensively researched the New X-Men teams that had disbanded by the time Tommy even got close to finding them.

The first three had reacted violently to Tommy trailing them, and he had to lay low for a while between each instance. A new approach was needed.

Tommy took a deep breath, walking into the break room, “Hey, you look at least ten years less boring than everyone else. Let’s go grab some noodles.”

Tommy’s heart pounded out of his chest as the older male began to grin. “Yeah, sure.” the other answered. “I’m David.”

For the first time in months something like hope blossomed in his chest, and he felt like he was one step closer to finding DJ. “I’m Tommy.”

**Author's Note:**

> Turns out all it takes to make me write is a stroke. 
> 
> My tumblr is gaysupersoliders, follow me there.


End file.
